Kirtland SF airman charged in fatal DWI - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Kirtland SF airman charged in fatal DWI

ALBUQUERQUE — Authorities are investigating whether the security forces airman accused of killing two people in a New Year’s Day crash might have been over-served at an Albuquerque bar.

Micah Henry, 23, who is assigned to the 377th Security Forces Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base, was driving a sport utility vehicle that police said ran a red light and plowed into a pickup truck, killing the man and woman in the truck.

A Kirtland spokesman refused to divulge Henry's rank, information that is traditionally released in such incidents.

Henry had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit, police said.

The victims were identified Wednesday as Marvin Garcia, 44, of Santa Fe, and Josephine Lawika, 47, of Cochiti Pueblo. Police believe Lawika was Garcia’s girlfriend.

Henry, who is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, made his initial appearance in Metropolitan Court on Wednesday. The judge raised Henry’s bond to $200,000 cash or surety despite his attorney’s request that the bond remain at $50,000.

Investigators are looking into where Henry was drinking on New Year’s, said Peter Olson, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. Under state law, a bar can be held liable if investigators learn it overserved a person who later drove drunk.

Witnesses reported seeing Henry’s SUV speeding before the crash.

Police said the force of the collision “welded” the two vehicles together and they had to be pulled apart with a fire truck.

“It is heartbreaking to know that just a couple of hours into the new year, another family has been impacted,” said Terry Huertaz, executive director of MADD New Mexico. “The plan for this year is just to continue, or double, or triple, or quadruple our efforts, whatever it takes to stop drunk driving.”

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